2008 French cantonal elections

Electoral system

• Councillors are elected from single-member constituencies.
• A candidate securing the votes of at least 25% of the canton's registered voters and more than 50% of the total number of votes actually cast in the first round of voting is thereby elected. If no candidate satisfies these conditions, then a second round of voting is held one week later.
• Entitled to present themselves in the second round are the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the first round, plus any other candidate or candidates who received the votes of at least 10% of those registered to vote in the canton.
• In the second round, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes is elected.

  Change in control

From right to left

• Ain
• Allier
• Corrèze
• Indre-et-Loire
• Lot-et-Garonne
• Deux-Sèvres
• Somme
• Val-d'Oise

  From PCF to PS

• Seine-Saint-Denis

  From PRG to PS

• Hautes-Pyrénées

  From centre to right

• Pyrénées-Atlantiques

  From left to right

• Hautes-Alpes
• Mayotte

  From UMP to NC

• Côte-d'Or

  From UMP to DVD

• Jura

  Past general council presidents

• François Hollande, first secretary of the PS elected in Corrèze
• Arnaud Montebourg, PS deputy elected in Saône-et-Loire
• Hervé Gaymard, former UMP minister elected in Savoie
• Dominique Bussereau, former UMP minister elected in Charente-Maritime
• Claude Bartolone, PS deputy elected in Seine-Saint-Denis

  Notable new councillors

• Jean Sarkozy, son of President Nicolas Sarkozy, elected in Neuilly-Sud as the UMP candidate

  National results